Ruth Jones stars in The Nightingales
The Nightingales Theatre Royal Bath
The new play The Nightingales starring Ruth Jones from Gavin & Stacey is a heart warming and enjoyable musical comedy with an intriguing story. The play, which opened in Bath before touring the West End, was written by actor William Gaminara, best known for playing Leo Dalton in Silent Witness and Dr Richard Locke in The Archers. The play is set in a village hall, wonderfully designed by Jonathan Fensom who has recreated beautifully the atmosphere of almost every village hall in the country, complete with high windows and velvet curtains and the must have stacked chairs and stark kitchen. Here a local five part acapella group meet to rehearse and socialise. There’s Steven, 60, the Cambridge-educated choirmaster, Diane, his younger wife who is desperate for a baby, Ben, who was once a professional tennis player married to Connie, who was once a model and Bruno, a young history teacher, who cares for his mother. They are a motley crew, they love themselves and the weekly two-hour rehearsal flies by as the audience is treated to the intimate secrets of their personal lives. All is going well for this middle class smug little group until one day newcomer Maggie (Ruth Jones) knocks on the door and everything changes. Jones is adorably funny in the role, with her strong Gavin & Stacey Welsh accent, Co-op bags, croc shoes and cheap, mac coat in contrast to the trendy, well dressed and spoken members of the singing group. All is not what it seems in this small town, Diane is having a highly sexed affair with Bruno and her husband Steven knows all about it. There are some spicy scenes when Diane and Bruno have sex on the kitchen table of the village hall when rehearsals have finished, and this is cleverly done on stage as the set becomes a split scene for the action. There is some great comedy in this new Theatre Royal Bath Productions offering. Jones is outstanding and West End audiences will love her, it’s great to see this talented comedy actress who co-wrote the award winning Gavin & Stacey back on stage. Sarah Earnshaw as the cynical northern former model Connie is hilarious and has a great singing voice. There are some areas which could be tweaked as the production matures. Some of the scripting in the first half seems laborious and lines could be cut to increase the pace and make it tighter. The singing and music is not that strong, but this may be deliberate as the group is supposed to be mediocre, like so many such groups across the country. It is a relevant piece of theatre for these times when television and local choirs are more popular than ever, with programmes such as The Choir and Military Wives. The Nightingales is a most enjoyable play and audiences will be nostalgic for the very British tradition of the village hall, the actors constantly refer to the scout group which uses the hall after their rehearsal. More music wouldn’t go amiss, everyone loves acapella and there’s scope for a lot more great songs to be performed. There are some great comic lines, cynical, acerbic – a real send up of the British middle classes. It is light hearted but with a clever twist in the tale which is a little predicable at times. In the end the down-to-earth Maggie has the last say over the smooth talking members of the group who are not really likeable at all and come across as trite and frivolous. Director Christopher Luscombe has created a lovely atmosphere on stage and audiences will enjoy this intriguing little yarn immensely. It’s great to have the world premiere here on our doorstep and premiered in Bath. The Nightingales continues at the Theatre Royal, Bath until Saturday, November 10. For tickets call 01225 448844 or visit www.theatreroyal.org.uk